StreetCowboy

I raised my bar when I came to Thailand, but it is all relative. After a couple of years in South America and Russia my bar was pretty much all over the place.

I've decided to stay away from the bar...

SC

It would seem prudent, in the covering letter, to provide reference to any specific events that the visit is intended to coincide with - I assume it is the Edinburgh-Toulouse Heineken Cup Quarter-Final.

Copies of tickets, or pictures of the couple at another rugby match might come in handy to show a sustained interest in such events.

SC

... for obvious reasons that I cannot be bothered explaining, but anyone with a few brain cells should understand.

When dealing with officialdoms you must play they’re games and ensure that everything is in order prior to submitting an application. It`s that simple.

That is actually wrong. Nobody has to prove anything beyond a reasonable doubt in immigration law.

If you can't be bothered to explain anything, then why are you bothering to be here ? People come here for advice, not to be told that they only have a few brain cells.

And yet she got refused, because the OP couldn't be arsed to write a covering letter.

You can pontificate all you like but at the end of the day, the refusal happened, so I'm more inclined to follow Beetlejuice's line, rather than your purist approach.

Given you seem to do this for a living - based solely on your profile - remind me not to seek professional help from you. I would want realistic pragmatic advice, not the dogma you have provided here.

Dogma ?

Can I hold your jackets?

SC

EDIT:

Maybe the Mods could move this over to the 'Step Outside for a Square Go' forum?

...The other observation, based on the discussions here, is, what are her reasons to return? You state she has no job, but has money. Where did that money come from, was it deposited by you? Yes, she has a child which she is leaving behind, but I am sure it would not be the first time kids have been left behind with relatives, in the hope of collecting them later.

On paper, you are a relatively wealthy man who can pay for her quite easily. It would appear by your past travels that you already have done so. Maybe the officials think that she will just stay in the UK, looked after by you, and perhaps in the future try to get the child back? Looked at that way, she may as well give up her little bit of land and money and child in exchange for a life of luxury with you.

Devils advocate here, so apologies to the OP. Just trying to see it from the officials point of view. And trying to be helpful.

Hence, presumably, their request for evidence of the OP's residency status in Thailand; on the assumption that if he is likely to come back to Thailand she is also likely to come back. Again, not to say that a longer visa wouldn't be granted to the lady to live with the OP in Thailand, but to make sure that the correct visa is being applied for, and not some attempt to short-cut the system.

SC

This entire thread is really skating on thin ice vis-à-vis being Thai-related and being critical of a nationality.

However, there seems to be some interest and the posts have been somewhat civil so far, so I will let it go for now, but any devolvement will result in the thread being closed.

"any devolvement will result in the thread being closed."

Hear Hear!

Say "No!" to devolution

SC

^ ditto

<snigger>

I hate that - when I can't make a joke for want of keeping a straight face.

Normally its easier when I'm typing, though...

SC

Delete

Brevity is the soul of wit.

So, after 7 pages, are we getting our own forum?

Wrell, that'll need to go for public consultation. Then there will be the appeals. Then we can start the formal process rolling; Maybe in time for the Olympics in London; not this year, but the next time...

SC

They've already told you the key thing they require and that you failed to provide - a supporting letter from you.

How much more explicit can they be?

so I could have been down to my last Baht, but if I wrote them a letter saying I would support her, everything would have been O.K

I sent them a copy of my Thai bank statement showing 11,000,000 baht, copy of her Thai bank statement showing 500,000 baht,

copy of her visa credit card. but this not O.K.

In their first paragraph they also stated she failed to provide evidence of my residency in Thailand.What more did they want ?, in addition to what we had allready supplied.

I think they wanted a letter saying

"Please issue a visa for my neice Ms X who will be accompanying me on a short family holiday to the UK. I will be supporting her throughout - I enclose a copy of my bank book showing that I am indeed a very wealthy man.

Ms X and I have lived together for many years in a sordid out-of-wedlock relationship for several years; I enclose photos of us gatecrashing various parties together over the last few years, and a copy of the blue and yellow house-books which show us co-resident since whatever date it says. I myself am resident in Thailand and have been since whenever; I enclose a copy of my residents' visa in Thailand,

We have travelled to numerous countries far more attractive than yours together, without either of us becoming lost and overstaying; I attach copies of our passports showing consistent coincidental dates for visits to wherever."

Sometimes, the immigration officer will come back and say "I need more proof of address - do you have a utility bill", for example, and generally they will be fairly flexible in this "Sorry, we're not on mains electric or water: Would a court summons do instead?"; then the office rcan show he's done his due dilligence and not let you go through unquestioned.

Of course, it could also be that your girlfriend is a secret agent who is known to the authorities, but they are reticent to tell you this. One of our candidates was refused a visa "for personal reasons" but the authority would not disclose more, out of respect for their privacy.

SC

I suppose there will be plenty of snake-heads following this thread, thinking "Yes, I should supply this or that piece of evidence".

Anyway, here's a bit of idle speculation in jest.

Maybe the OP is an aged British person, and its just that they are worried he might be tempted to stay, and they don't want him coming back and sponging off the NHS, and getting an inflation-adjusted pension and so forth. But they can't block him... so they block his girlfriend / neice that he's proposing to travel with...

SC

They've already told you the key thing they require and that you failed to provide - a supporting letter from you.

How much more explicit can they be?

I suppose the OP assumed that the on-line text that he provided satisfied that requirement.

My advice would be to re-submit, with the required information, with a letter politely explaining and itemising all the accompanying evidence.

It is inconvenient to be knocked back, though. I must admit that the covering letter, which I would include as a matter of course, was not on the list of evidence required (if I recall correctly) last time I had to support a visa application

SC

You could hire a platoon of ladyboys from Pattaya

Pros: Pattaya ladyboys have excellent hand to hand fighting skills.

Cons: could be sexually molested by own bodyguards

Only if he pays extra

The pearls of strong drink?

SC

I note, in particular, that you have not provided a supporting letter from your partner.

When asked to sponsor someone's application, I normally write a letter requesting the visa, and explaining what I have attached by way of evidence, and how it contributes to the overall case, tracing it back to the original requirements specified in the Immigration Authority's documents.

SC

The OP makes a valid point. It's just a pity that he feels the need to mention that he lives in one of the roughest parts of Glasgow in nearly every thread - is it some form of boasting?

Let me clarify.......Bridgeton in Glasgow is famous / infamous beyond virtually any other borough in Scotland. I will not go into the reasons why, except to say that any idea our English compatriots have of Patriotism towards the Queen and the UK is nothing as compared to here. I mean nothing, so I won't be taking lectures on loyalty to the crown, "Hearts of Oak" etc from anyone on Thaivisa.

On that subject I will say no more, the Scots amongst us know exactly what I'm saying, and everyone else can carry on with their blissful ignorance.

Even though it is a seriously ( and I mean seriously ) rough and tumble area, we have a massive immigrant community, and they are accepted with next to no difficulty. It is possible to be a good patriotic Brit ( and Scot ) without being a closet racist and hypocrite.

So if I refer to where I live, it is for the purpose of the topic and for illustration purposes.

But is it possible to live where you live and be accepted if someone abstains from all alcohol?

You are joking, aren't you?

SC

...

My problem with Bendix's post quoted was his attitude which is always supercilious; the anonymity that a forum such as this provides frequently provides the bully with the opportunity to demean others. I cannot accept that

We often infer from others' posts intent or opinion that was not implied. For that reason I try (not always successfully) to refrain from commenting on whether I find other people's style offensive*, and to accept such criticism of my posts as the simple misunderstanding that it probably wasn't.

* obviously, with the exception of bloody walls of text with no punctuation or capitalisation; or ridiculous txtspk or 'youth' vocabulary...

SC

Read my post again, I did imply that I think the THAIS have got it right, they look after their own. I know many ex-pats

feel they are treated unfairly here in Thailand, and I think that is understandable, however I have no problem being treated

as a 2nd class resident in Thailand, however many people in the UK now resent the fact that the UK has to many immigrants

and so-called asylum seekers,many of whom are white as well as non-white.

What's a 'so-called asylum seeker' and why does it matter whether they're white or not?

I think we should try to get away from seeing everything in black and white*.

I like to think of them as "apple-blossom" rather than 'white'. Personally, I'm more cream than white. Or maybe condensed, with added palm oil.

* Particularly now there's no cheaper License Fee for monochrome...

* That's ironic, coming from me - http://www.thaivisa....ost__p__5070873

SC

The hypocrisy of the OP of this thread.

I love Brits. We are one of the most open-minded nationalities to new cultures and experiences.

The small portion of moaning idiots are nothing more than that. Why dwell on them? I hear the Sam sh*t the OP cites coming from Americans, Aussies etc. Again, just a small portion of them and not to be mistaken for the wider population.

England is also undoubtedly one of the least racist countries in the world. It is completely and utterly unacceptable to make/be racist in general society in Britain.

OP is clearly narrow minded and likes to dwell on negatives.

I think its great to highlight the positives about our country, without mentioning anything that irritates us at all.

I miss the long summer evenings, and the beautiful sandy beaches.

I also miss the snow, and the crisp winter mornings...

My Polish friend told me that he found Britain to be a far more open and tolerant country than the other Western European countries he had worked... though that was almost 20 years ago now.

Anyway, rather than taking umbrage at being criticised for whining, maybe we should just stop doing it. As Henry told Percy "It's not wrong, we just don't do it."

SC

Edit: Duplicate sign-off deleted in this and following post

Hi all.

My friend in England paid for many years for a private pension with a large insurance company, , The deal was he paid a large sum every month and he would get 35,000 pound at age 65 and approx 250 pound per week,

When he was approaching 65 the news was on every day predicting doom and gloom for his pension provider company,

When he became due his pension , his lump sum dropped from 35.000 to 11.000 and his promised 250 per week became 60 per week, He told me that all together he had paid in more than 60 ,000 pound over the years,and wish he never bought it.

He had no legal recourse at the time, He knows that he and many thousand of other pensioners were well and truly shafted,.

phupaman

Then he didnt have a clue what he was buying. I suspect he wasn't 'told'he would get 35000 plus 250 per week. Instead, he would have been shown models that projected that amount based on certain assumptions to do with market performance of the underlying assets.

If he took his pension when the markets collapsed (during a sharemarket slump for example) that would affect his return. If he chose to realise the pension at that time rather than wait for a recovery, that's his choice.

I'm sorry but too many people complain about being shafted by pensions when what has really happened is that they simply either don't know or don't care or are too lazy to understand and actively monitor the most important financial decision of their lives.

I'm sorry too that you seem unable to post anything other than patronising, demeaning and frankly insulting responses, based apparently on "I suspect he wasn't told..." and "He didn't have a clue....".

It seems that if he had understood what he was buying, then he would have known and understood the market risks to which he was exposed. Assuming that the person that sold him the pension product complied with the law in force, then (depending on when the pension was sold) he would have given examples of what the policy might return, given certain assumptions on investment performance (assumptions, I think, which are defined by the code of practice).

Some people seem all too ready to take offence where none was offered, which seems somewhat churlish, in my view.

Another point to raise is that as well as the disappointing performance of the investments, annuity rateshave dropped - partly due to lower returns on investments, but also due to increased longevity and changes in actuarial life expectancy

SC

Oh for the day when Scotland is no longer British, only problem is more people in the England are in favour of Scottish Independance than there are in Scotland.

unbeleivable irony as stated a brit whinging about Whinging Brits. best of all on a thai forum and he dont even live in Thailand.

Nobody puts a gun to your head and say you must read this, if you dont like it dont read it.

God forbid that we (when I say we, I mean you, of course, and my family and friends who are your - oh and once again my vocabulary fails me - co-in-patriates - your fellow countrymen who live in that country) should have to suffer Alex Salmond and his cronies in Holyrood with untrammelled access to the corridors of power, and the full set of reins in their hands... I suppose that we (you) get the government that we deserve...

Anyway, 95% of Scots believe that their country is the best in the world, and 15% would live there, if they had no other choice.

SC

the state retirement age at the moment for men is 65, but changing in the near future to 66, and then 67. Women at present are on a sliding scale from 61, anyone born after 1/10/1954 will have to be at least 66.

You are wrong, from the UK government website

http://www.direct.go...sion/DG_4017919

"Current State Pension age

For men born before 6 December 1953, the current State Pension age is 65.

For women born after 5 April 1950 but before 6 December 1953, their State Pension age is between 60 and 65."

I'm still hoping to retire early at 70

In terms of ensuring the prosperity of the working class, wealth creation is more important than redistribution of wealth. Our aim should be to creat opportunities for people to work and create wealth, and incentives for them to do so; opportunities and incentives to save prudently for their own retirement.

SC

to the blether,

things must of got a lot worse in Glasgow.....your the first Scot who i have read or heard say they are a Brit.

I'm surprised you've noticed any of the rest of us

SC

personel

Really? Your flounce is going to be remembered for its 'personel' . . .

HR is the new personnel.

I'm not going to take it HRly, anyway.

In order to avoid being hurt by the abuse, I practiced at home by myself...

SC

Mate .. it's very hard to start a meaningful topic here, something that the ole' timers haven't seen before, but I do recommend that if you are going to put your ideas open for all and sundry to ponder and comment you do three things:-

• TOUGHEN UP
  
• spell and grammar check before posting
  
• ask a question - not make a statement
  

And, of course, at least make the slightest attempt to relate it to Thailand, living in Thailand, working in Thailand, visiting Thailand or something similar.

There is a reason why the forum is called Thaivisa.

I had, perhaps foolishly, assumed he was talking about English slogans in Thailand.

Sadly, my favourite hails from Hong Kong - Fanny Fashions, which turns out to be a clothes shop, not a hairdresser.

SC